h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oh and all my follow ups had treatment that was working so I didn't need to do a lot of complex things.

[Ben]

Z, I would also be glad if all outpatient clinic appointments could run on time! It would save me a lot of time sitting in waiting rooms getting frustrated.

Onwards and upwards. I've just sent off a form volunteering my time to work at the National Winter Ales Festival 2009 in January. I've been going drinking there since it moved back to Manchester and now I've been persuaded to help staff it. I'm sure it'll be fun and hard work.

[SG V] packing stuff for home trip tonight

It would save me a lot of money if they ran on time too - I don't think I've ever paid for less than 2 hours parking charges for ten minute consultations I arrive 5 minutes before the "appointment time" of.

I am of the opinion that boys between the ages of say 12 and 16 should be incarcerated on an island someplace and not released until they can prove they are mature enough to function in a civilized manner. We've taken two major vandalism hits in 8 days. We know who did it, but can't prove it. I am not a happy person. You know, too many kids nowadays run their households and have no real understanding of actions having consequences.

Oh, that's terrible Hyp.

I'm of the opinion that everyone between 0-17 should be incarcerated until they can function in a civilized manner, but then again I'm rapidly becoming a crusty old .

Too many parents want to be their child's friend and can't keep their offspring in line because they're scared of upsetting them
The result is that junior does exactly what s/he wants, with no fear of suffering the consequences of their actions.

Teuchter - formerly a strict parent and now good friends with her adult offspring.

And when things get out of hand the parents often blame the teachers; it's all their fault for not disciplining the little darlings. Guess what Mrs WA does for a living?

To be fair this is the time of year I proof read a lot of stuff for Mrs WA as she helps get the little darlings off to uni and there's lot's of kids working very hard both academically and at part time jobs as well as taking part in sports, charities, bands, clubs and lots of other things. It never fails to impress me.

my parents were effectivly brought up, by their grandparents (my dad actually was brought up by his and my mum is 16 years younger than her eldest sister) Therefore the way i was brought up was probably a generation behind too. If i was naughty, i was punished OK the punishment may have been a little sever and has left me with some "issues" but it tought me to respect authorith figures and behave in an acceptable way. My little sister on the other hand was never really punished for doing wrong and you can tell now that she is 15. She is perfectly happy to use foul language and violence to get her own way, She also takes the huff very easily and cant take a joke at her expense.

mini

I was probably a bit too strict at times - but they've forgiven me now that they're old enough to understand the reasons. They weren't allowed to get away with anti-social behaviour and I tried to encourage a sense of personal responsibility and consideration for others.
Of course they played-up sometimes at home but I could rely on them to behave well in public.

Point taken, QA - they're not all little barstewards. The majority of teenagers are charming and do behave well; as ever, it's the small minority of sociopaths who give the rest a bad name.
A lot of the time I think we misinterpret some of the louder behaviour as aggressive; the capering around in groups sort of stuff. Thinking back, we used to hang around in a crowd too and I'm sure some old dearies found us beyond the pale.

Damaging public property which the community has had to fund is completely unacceptable

The vandalism goes in spurts here. We'll do fine for months, then all of a sudden we get hit over and over. The incident last night will cost us around a thousand dollars. The one last Monday was only $160. My insurance deductible is $1000, so we won't file on the incident last night. But, part of the damage includes a violation of federal law. If I want to, I can make it very scary for a couple of kids and their families. I'm tempted.

I've always told my kids that I am the world's meanest mommy, it says so in my contract. They are smart, though, and while not happy with every decision I made at the time they understood my reasons for them. So far, no major catastrophes. And they are well behaved in public.

Do it, Hyp. Do it.

The federal violation means I can skip over the local prosecutor, who is quite uncooperative. We're considering our options.

*sips *

what is it that puts a conversation on the 'most popular conversations' list? is it # of posts, length of time running..what?

I am pretty sure it is just the volume of posts within a specific time period. I don't know how long that period is. I guess one way to find out is to watch how long it takes the previous conversation to drop off the front page after we move on to the new one.

You know what? I'm liking all this free time. I got a lot of housework done yesterday and had time to put together a fresh vat of Extremely Famous Baked Potato Soup.

But my zen alarm clock has died , victim of the latest power spike, of which we've been having a lot lately. In fact, there was another outage last night. Must be these bitterly cold nights.